The Battle of the Heart.

It’s common knowledge that regular exercise is extremely beneficial to our physical and mental health. My go-to workout has been running, which I both love and hate. I really dread the pain of the first mile and my legs feeling like water jugs before I reach my stride. But, I enjoy being outside, love the increased “post-run” endorphins, and the satisfaction of having gotten off the couch! When I’m done running, I feel great knowing that I have overcome the battle with my flesh that screams “NO!” to putting on those running shoes and heading out the door. When I’ve put in the miles and I’m looking gross and sweaty, I feel awesome knowing I've done something good for my body, especially my heart!

Speaking of our hearts, in the book of Proverbs, the author has something very important them:

“Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” (Proverbs 4:23)

While physical exercise is good for the heart, spiritual exercise is vitally important. When I think about guarding my heart or “keeping my heart with vigilance”, a few battles come to mind that make keeping the heart “healthy” a challenge.

The battle of comparing. Because of social media and access to basically everything and everyone, I tend to struggle with comparing myself to others. I know I am not alone. I wish I was a dad like that guy. I wish I had that house. Wow, if only I could take my family on those kinds of trips. This is never a good pattern, but I think we are all tempted to compare periodically wishing that we had something that someone else has or does. This is one way of damaging our heart and soul. When we fall into the trap of comparison we begin to become jealous of others. We tend to envy what they have and do. Ultimately, we become dissatisfied with who we are. However, there’s a better way forward. We can choose to accept ourselves: broken, forgiven, and healed. We can choose to be content with our voice, and our sphere of influence. The truth is very simple: there is no one like you. There is no one made like you. You are talented, gifted, loved, and created by God for a design and purpose. We each need to be ourselves. Nothing more. Nothing less.

The battle of complaining. It is easy to complain. Complaining about our coffee order that was made wrong, our neighbor’s barking dog or our spouse who doesn’t do enough. We can complain about our jobs, neighborhood, church, etc. If we’re not careful, we can find ourselves complaining about everything. Never grateful. Never content. Life is meant to be a gift to enjoy. Every day we are called to give thanks for all that we have and to be grateful for our many blessings. When we are thankful for simple things like hot water in the morning or cars that run, we begin to find new meaning for life and joy for each day.

The battle of a callous heart. Sometimes if I am not careful with guarding my heart, I can become very callous towards God and others. Distance starts to set in toward my Creator. Coldness and darkness lingers in my soul. I can feel agitated, short-tempered, or just disengaged. When this happens, pay attention to these “warning lights”. This is not something to mess with. If our hearts become callous, it is time for a re-ordering of our priorities and decisions. We might need to take some time off of work or a break from areas that feel very consuming. We may need to find a friend or a counselor to dive deeper into this reality. Something drastic needs to happen here for a callous heart to change and heal. It is not impossible, but it will take lots of prayer and mature guidance.

My physical heart is important, but my spiritual heart and health is even more important. Both need care; both need life and attention. The battles are real, but we can overcome and be strengthened with God’s help

Get out there and take a walk, take a jog, and more than anything guard your heart, for out of it, EVERYTHING flows.